ReferralCandy 101 explains how referral programs work with ReferralCandy end to end — who the participants are, how customers become advocates, how referred purchases turn into rewards, and where you can adjust each step of the flow.

New to ReferralCandy? The getting started guides for Shopify and other platform merchants walk you through setting up and launching your first campaign.

How referral programs work with ReferralCandy

Every referral program on ReferralCandy involves two participant roles:

Advocate — an individual enrolled in your referral campaign. Advocates receive a unique referral link to share.
Referred friend — an individual referred by an advocate, usually a new customer to your store.

When a customer makes a purchase, signs up via a form, or is imported to a segment, they are registered as a contact in your account. If the contact meets the criteria of a segment targeted by your campaign (for example, a lifetime spend greater than $50), they are automatically enrolled in your campaign, and the contact becomes an advocate.

Once enrolled, the advocate receives their unique referral link, which they can share with friends. When a referred friend's purchase meets the reward conditions you set, the advocate receives a reward in the form of cash, a discount coupon, or a custom reward that you fulfill on your end.

Important: enrollment and rewards are controlled separately. Campaign enrollment and target audience (segments) control who gets a referral link and when. Reward type and reward conditions only control what advocates earn and whether a referred purchase qualifies — changing them doesn't change who becomes an advocate.

The diagram below shows the typical referral flow — a customer enrolls as an advocate, shares their referral link with a friend, and earns a reward when the friend's purchase qualifies:

This is a typical workflow followed by most merchants. Depending on your eCommerce platform and your setup, there may be variations in the workflow. The two expandable flowcharts below break down enrollment and the referred purchase in more detail.

[A] Post-purchase enrollment workflow

After a customer makes a purchase, they must first meet your segment criteria to enroll in your campaign. If they meet the criteria, they are enrolled immediately: they get their referral link and receive the welcome email, and post-purchase surfaces like the checkout popup show them their link right away. From there they can open their Share Page to share the link with friends.

If the customer doesn't meet the criteria, they are not enrolled — they stay registered as a contact, and post-purchase surfaces let them know they're not eligible instead of showing a referral link.

Notes:

This flow assumes the merchant has enabled a post-purchase sharing surface — the Referral extension on Shopify or the post-purchase popup on other platforms — and sending of the welcome email for their referral campaign

[B] Referred purchase workflow

When a referred friend clicks the advocate's link, and makes a purchase from your store, they must first meet the conditions you set in your reward settings.

If the purchase doesn't meet the reward conditions, the advocate won't receive a reward and receives the ineligible reward email.
If the purchase meets the reward conditions, the advocate receives the pending reward email.
- During this time, the purchase remains in a pending state until the review period ends. You can disqualify the purchase during this period if issues arise, such as an order refund.
- If there are no issues and the review period ends, the purchase is confirmed. The advocate receives their reward and the successful reward email.

Notes:

This flow assumes that the merchant has enabled a purchase review period for Shopify and other platforms, and sending of reward emails for their referral campaign.
*A purchase is rewardable only if it meets all the reward conditions
*A merchant can disqualify a referred purchase on Shopify and other platforms when a referral made by an advocate is considered fraud.

The referral campaign map

The referral campaign map gives you insight into each step of a running campaign and where you can tweak or implement changes. The map below walks through the five steps, from contact registration to the advocate's reward:

The referral campaign process has 5 steps:

Contact registration - Customers are automatically registered for your campaign when they make a purchase, sign up through your Join Page or a signup widget, or when you manually import them to a segment (via CSV file, email address, or Mailchimp). Once registered, they become contacts in your account.
Campaign enrollment - On your ReferralCandy dashboard, you choose a segment to set as the target audience of your campaign (you can also exclude segments). All customers who meet the criteria of the targeted segment are automatically enrolled in your campaign.
Invitation to refer - Once enrolled, contacts become advocates and receive their unique referral link. The invitation to refer can reach them through several surfaces: the welcome email; sharing and signup widgets — see the widgets overview for Shopify (Referral extension, Join block, and more) and other platforms (post-purchase popup, embedded signup, floating Referral Widget, and more) — plus the hosted Join Page; and your own marketing emails through integrations like Klaviyo and Mailchimp.
Advocate referral - Enrolled advocates share their unique referral link from the welcome email, widgets, or their Share Page (see what advocates see after signing up). When a referred friend makes a purchase, ReferralCandy reviews the purchase during the review period for Shopify or other platforms, and the advocate receives the pending reward email.
Advocate reward - Once the system confirms that the referred purchase is legitimate (for example, no refunds or returns), and the purchase meets the conditions you set, the advocate receives the successful reward email along with their reward.

Using ReferralCandy FAQ

Can a customer refer even if they don't make a purchase?

Yes, it's possible to set up a referral program that enrolls customers in your campaign without requiring a purchase. Alternatives include campaign enrollment through signup or invitation.

You need to create and target a segment that includes customers who sign up via a form or those you manually import into the segment. Learn more

Why did my advocate count suddenly increase?

A sudden increase in advocates almost always means many contacts newly met your campaign's target audience at the same time. Enrollment is automatic and ongoing: whenever a contact meets the criteria of a segment targeted by your campaign, they are enrolled as an advocate — not only at the moment of purchase.

Common causes of a sudden advocate increase:

A targeted segment's criteria changed — for example, lowering a lifetime-spend threshold enrolls every contact who now qualifies, including previously waitlisted contacts.
Contacts were imported — importing contacts into a static segment targeted by your campaign enrolls them immediately.
The campaign's target audience changed — adding a segment to the target audience, or setting a campaign live, enrolls everyone in that segment who meets its criteria.
A batch of signups came in — if your target audience includes the "Signup form submitted" segment, signups through your Join Page or signup widgets enroll automatically.

To trace a specific jump, check your campaign's Advocates list and any recent changes to your segments or target audience. Learn more: Campaign enrollment and Understanding segments and target audience.

Can I run a referral program for B2B sales?

There is no difference between B2C and B2B businesses when it comes to setting up and running a referral program on ReferralCandy.

The main requirement is that your store's purchases reach ReferralCandy, so it can detect referred purchases and reward your advocates. On supported eCommerce platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce, that happens automatically once you install the ReferralCandy app. On other platforms, you connect your store through the email, JavaScript, or API integration.

If your store can support one of these integration methods, you can run a referral program with ReferralCandy — including B2B stores. See Can I use ReferralCandy if I'm not using a supported eCommerce platform?

Can I run multiple campaigns for a single store?

Yes, you can set multiple live campaigns for one ReferralCandy account.

How many campaigns can I run at the same time?

You can create and simultaneously run up to 50 referral or affiliate campaigns in ReferralCandy. It is recommended that you run only the number of live campaigns that you can monitor and manage.

What kind of campaigns can I run with multi-campaign?

There are endless possibilities with running multiple campaigns based on your referral marketing needs. Here are some use cases:

Different types of referral programs: Running a customer referral program for store purchases and an affiliate program for influencers.
Different affiliate programs: Running an affiliate program for YouTube influencers and another affiliate program for Instagram influencers that you may prefer to offer higher or lower cash rewards to.
Campaigns based on lifetime spend: A campaign for customers who have spent less than $1000 at your store, and a campaign for VIP customers who have a lifetime spend of over $1000.

Are there any restrictions on the product or service we can run a referral program for?

Most businesses can use ReferralCandy, regardless of industry or product type. As long as your store follows local laws, respects intellectual property rights, complies with your e-commerce platform’s policies, and agrees to our Terms of Service, you should be able to run a referral program without issue.

Book a call with us

ReferralCandy offers two different types of scheduled calls, each designed for a different situation. Please choose the one that matches your needs so we can connect you with the right team.

Get Help from an Expert (for existing ReferralCandy merchants)

If you are already a paying ReferralCandy merchant or have an active ReferralCandy account, and you want to speak with someone about your referral program, this is the right call for you. This includes things like: reviewing your current setup, getting advice on how to improve your referral program performance, optimizing your campaign settings, troubleshooting an issue with a screen share, or discussing your plan and what you could do differently.

This is a one-on-one call where an expert from our support team works with you directly on your specific needs. Book your call here: https://calendly.com/referralcandy-demo/referralcandy-live-q_a

Note: Calls are conducted in English.

Get a Demo (for new prospects and leads evaluating ReferralCandy)

If you do not have a ReferralCandy account yet, or you are on a free trial and want to see how the platform works before committing, this is the right call for you. This is a sales demo where our team walks you through ReferralCandy's features, pricing, and how it would work for your store. This call is meant for people who are considering using ReferralCandy and want to learn more before signing up.

To book a demo:

Go to https://www.referralcandy.com/pricing
Click "Get a demo"
Fill out the short form and select a time that works for you

Note: Demos are conducted in English.